Visit HarpWeek.com
Go to the homepage...

Congressional Passage // Freedmen's Bureau Act // Race Riots
Early State Ratification // Congressional Elections // Southern Rejection
Congressional Reconstruction

As had been the case with the Thirteenth Amendment, the former Confederate states were allowed to participate in the ratification process for the Fourteenth Amendment.  Although Senator Charles Sumner and others argued that the constitutional requirement of ratification by three-quarters of the states should only include the states represented in Congress (and, therefore, not the South), most assumed it should be three-quarters of all the states (27 of 36, or 28 of 37 after Nebraska’s admission on March 1, 1867).

Two New England states acted quickly.  The Republican-controlled legislatures of Connecticut and New Hampshire approved the measure on June 25 and July 6, 1866, respectively.  Several reasons were given for opposing the amendment, including:  it was proposed while Southern states were excluded from Congress; it was unwarranted by the situation in the South; it should be considered as several separate amendments; its various provisions were unclear or contradictory; it infringed on states’ rights; and it usurped the presidential pardoning power.  Similar objections were voiced throughout the ratification process.  

In President Johnson’s home state of Tennessee, Republican Governor William G. “Parson” Brownlow called the legislature into special session to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.  The state senate voted in favor on July 11, 1866, but the state house had difficulty reaching a quorum, which led to the arrest of two members for failing to show.  After refusing to accept release if they attended the session, they were counted as “not voting,” which allowed the state house to claim a quorum and approve the Fourteenth Amendment on July 19.  In gratitude, Republicans urged that Tennessee be readmitted to Congress.  A joint resolution to that effect was approved by the U.S. Senate on July 21 and the U.S. House on July 23.  The next day, a message was received from President Johnson reporting his approval, which was met with applause.  His objection to allowing Congress to add qualifications before accepting representatives from other Southern states provoked laughter.  In the August 11 issue of Harper’s Weekly (published August 1), editor George William Curtis welcomed Tennessee back into the Union, but criticized the president’s states’ rights position opposing further conditions set by the federal government on the former Confederate states before they could reenter Congress.


Harper's Weekly References

1)  August 4, 1866, p. 483, c. 2
“Domestic Intelligence” column

2)  August 11, 1866, p. 499, c. 3
“Domestic Intelligence” column

3)  August 11, 1866, p. 498, c. 4 to p. 499, c. 1
editorial, “Welcome, Tennessee!”


Go to the homepage...

Congressional Passage // Freedmen's Bureau Act // Race Riots
Early State Ratification // Congressional Elections // Southern Rejection
Congressional Reconstruction
 
 

     
 

 
     
 

 
     
 

 

Website design © 2001-2005 HarpWeek, LLC & Caesar Chaves Design
All Content © 1998-2005 HarpWeek, LLC
Please submit questions to webmaster@harpweek.com